The internal combustion engine shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,458 has a main combustion chamber and an auxiliary combustion chamber inter-connected by a connecting duct. An ignition device is inserted into the auxiliary combustion chamber. The connecting duct can be blocked in order to decouple the ignition device from the main combustion chamber. By this prior art construction, the purging process between the auxiliary combustion chamber and the main combustion chamber is coupled to the ignition time and the auxiliary combustion chamber must be connected to the main combustion chamber over a long working period.
Another ignition system for an internal combustion engine is known from German patent document DE-OS 28 26 807. In this internal combustion engine, in successive working strokes, first an oxygen-containing mixture is compressed and thereby heated as well as thereafter ignited, whereupon the combustion gases expand. This working method is developed because at least part of the fuel employed is heated to at least its ignition temperature before introduction into the process, then injected in the gaseous state into the oxygen-containing mixture in accordance with a law governing the combustion process. This method and a correspondingly designed internal combustion engine require a large constructional effort and are thus expensive in implementation, the ignition control, or respectively, ignition of the mixture still being subject to fluctuations.
Another system is known from British patent GB-A 2, 031 513, which discloses a two-substance system, wherein, pilot fuel is supplied to the internal combustion engine via an injector nozzle, which pilot fuel is ignited by a spark plug. This ignited pilot fuel then ignites the main fuel located in another chamber.